


This Time Around

by cest_what



Category: Mamamoo
Genre: 5 Things, Alternate Universe - Joseon Era, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Alternate Universe - Sports, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:41:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cest_what/pseuds/cest_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five first kisses in five universes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [renquise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/renquise/gifts).



> Dear renquise, I hope that you like this silliness!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta blotthis.
> 
> And for anyone just randomly going through the F/F tag in the Yuletide collection, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IIBVnn4eTM) [is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kgywgzUChE) [Mamamoo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z6WxZsRdyI).
> 
> *
> 
> Feb 2016: Made some sneaky changes to Part 5.

Yongsun’s contact was late. Worse than that, Yongsun suspected she had been made, herself. There were two men in the far corner of the club who had glanced at her more than a casual number of times, but had made no attempt to approach her.

There shouldn’t have been anything to tip anyone off to the location – they’d never used this club for a handover before – but if somebody had got a tip-off, Yongsun knew that her cover wasn’t the strongest it had ever been. 

She was supposed to be here to have a drink, dance to a couple of songs, and get into a conversation at the bar over her second drink. But she’d been waiting longer than she’d planned for, and she’d been out to the dance floor four times, now. 

The alternation between dance floor and bar, and the careful flitting between dance partners to prevent anyone trying to accompany her off the floor, must be starting to look like a pattern. And if anyone had been paying attention to how much money she was sliding across the bar for her drinks, it would be obvious that they were all non-alcoholic.

She was going to have to warn her contact not to attempt the handover, when they arrived.

Her handler hadn’t been able to tell her much about them, in the briefing. _“A new operative, I think,_ ” Wheein had said. _“The only name I have for them is ‘M’.”_

Yongsun was in the bathroom now, to break the pattern a little. 

She finished touching up her lipstick, a dark plum that she would never have worn as herself. Then she flipped her hair back and straightened her shoulders. If another twenty minutes passed with no sign of M, Yongsun would get out of here and notify Wheein that something had gone wrong at the other end.

She slipped out of the bathroom. She’d started back towards the dance floor, when a cool hand brushed her arm.

Yongsun turned to find a young woman beside her. If Yongsun had to guess, she would say the stranger was younger by a year or two. Her undyed black hair was caught up in a sleek, heavy ponytail, and the chipped ends of a fringe just brushed her eyelashes. Her jeans hugged her legs, and her white top just bared the hollow of her hip, above the denim.

She leaned in a little, raising her voice over the music. “I was watching you before. It seemed like you were getting some unwanted attention from a couple of guys.”

Yongsun did her best not to shiver as the stranger’s mouth brushed her hair. If this was M, she was unnecessarily close and far too attractive. But at least there didn’t seem to be any need to warn her off making the handover.

Yongsun gave her a sunny smile. “I was thinking of leaving, actually,” she agreed. “I don’t like this place as much as I thought I would.”

The other looked disappointed. “I guess my game’s off,” she said. “I was sure I could at least talk you into one drink.”

Yongsun chewed on her lip, scanning the stranger’s face as she reassessed. Maybe she wasn’t an agent at all? Maybe she was just flirting?

Yongsun was more ambivalent about that idea than she should have been. She was on the _job_ , and if this wasn’t M then she needed to find them, then extract herself and get back to HQ to report to Wheein. She didn’t need to be wasting time flirting with hot girls.

The stranger leaned in, picking up a lock of Yongsun’s hair and twisting it around her finger. “If not a drink,” she said, “hang out with me here a little longer? It’s a nice spot.”

They were near the wall, far enough away from the dance floor that the music wasn’t too loud for any conversation at all. The lights here were dim mood lighting. If somebody was trying to keep Yongsun in view, then the two of them were certainly being observed right now, but it was as shielded from casual attention as a public place like this could get.

The stranger lifted her hand to tuck Yongsun’s hair behind her ear. 

Yongsun told herself that she couldn’t extract herself until she knew for sure whether this was M. So she let herself meet the stranger’s eyes, her own mouth quirking in a slow, knowing smile.

The stranger’s hand moved from Yongsun’s hair to her cheek. Her other hand came up to tangle into Yongsun’s hair as she tilted them around until Yongsun’s back was against the wall.

“Keep your hands where they can see them,” she whispered against Yongsun’s mouth.

Yongsun was a beat slow, but she managed to obey the instruction. She pushed her palms flat against the wall to either side of her back, pushing herself forward into the kiss as M’s mouth opened against hers. 

M deepened the kiss immediately, her tongue sliding hot against Yongsun’s. Yongsun heard herself make a soft, urgent noise, and she pressed in harder.

She felt an information capsule being slipped under her tongue, and then M was pulling back.

Yongsun’s training kicked in, and she quickly transferred the capsule to the space behind her top lip.

M brushed Yongsun’s cheek again, the soft curl of a smirk on her mouth. 

“I’m new around these parts,” she said, her voice low. “I hope to see a lot more of you in future.”

Then she tucked her thumbs into the belt loops of her jeans and headed towards the bathroom.

Yongsun thumped back against the wall. Her thoughts were a tangle, and her breath was still coming too fast. Her eyes followed M's disappearing back.

You couldn’t _do_ that, she thought, dumbly. You had to be flexible and you had to think on your feet, but you couldn’t pull that kind of thing with another operative without warning them, not when you didn’t know them; not when you couldn’t predict whether they would follow your lead. That had been so flashy and so risky.

Next time Yongsun saw her, if only it was in a situation where they could talk more freely, Yongsun would tell her – a lot of things, starting with how _reckless_ , and how –

She wrenched her attention back to the job at hand.

In a moment, she would go back out onto the dance floor. She would make a show of glancing towards the bathroom, waiting for the girl she’d kissed to come back. After a little while she would become visibly offended at being ditched, and would leave in a bad mood.

Right now, though, her knees were still a bit too weak for her to move.


	2. Chapter 2

Electrical storms messed all of their abilities up. 

Byulyi thought that might be common, although she didn’t know many other people like them. Maybe the next time she saw them she could ask the VIXX crew whether Leo involuntarily shifted into cat form, every time there was thunder, or if N walked into walls instead of gliding through them, when there was too much humidity in the air.

Wheein had the window wide open, and she was leaning out and singing along to the Sistar song playing on Yongsun’s iPod. Rain dampened Wheein’s ability, so she could sing without concentrating on not enthralling anybody.

They’d plugged the iPod into external speakers and turned the volume up, but it was competing with the deafening white noise of the rain outside, especially with the window open, and Wheein was a little bit off-tempo as she belted, “ _Naa-na-na, naa-na-na, naa-na-na, hey!”_

Yongsun bounced over to join in on the chorus. Byulyi clapped a beat from her place on the floor. 

Yongsun and Wheein had just worked out a rhythm for shimmying back and forth at each other when lightning lit up the sky outside, in the brightest flash yet. Yongsun immediately lit up almost as brightly. Byulyi threw herself flat to hide her eyes against the couch cushions.

When she raised her head again, Wheein was folded over the window sill, her head out of sight as she kicked her legs, and Yongsun was still glowing with a warm, clear light. She looked abashed.

Byulyi would have laughed at her more if she hadn’t accidentally teleported twice tonight already.

Wheein pulled herself back into the room and slid down the wall, looping her arms around her knees. She was wet from the rain and still blinking tears away from her shocked eyes, but laughing helplessly.

Byulyi looked at Yongsun and patted the floor next to her. Yongsun walked over and dropped down to sit beside her. She dragged a lock of hair in front of her eyes and made a rueful face at the shining strands.

Byulyi leaned into Yongsun, picking up one of her hands and turning it to see the soft, clear glow illuminating her fingers from within.

“You’re so pretty,” she murmured. “Radiant.”

“ARGHHH,” Yongsun objected, pulling away and swatting at Byulyi with her hands. “Stop making that joke, oh my god. You’re the worst.”

Hyejin came out of the bathroom. She’d been hiding out there while she tried to get her hair under control. She had it the worst out of all of them, since electricity was kind of her thing. 

(She might also be the reason the rest of them were so badly affected. Byulyi didn’t remember storms making her teleportation quite this unpredictable, before she’d started living with someone who brought part of the storm inside with her.)

Live electricity still crackled through Hyejin’s hair, despite all her efforts to comb it out. It looked like a lion’s mane. Flecks of light darted between the pads of her fingers, too.

“Come over here!” Wheein called, above the BoA song that was playing now. “It’s raining so hard now, come see!”

Hyejin paused halfway across the room, casting Yongsun a concerned look. “Unnie, you don’t look well,” she said. “Your skin is so dull, you can’t have been eating properly.”

Yongsun made a weak sound of protest, slapping at Hyejin’s legs.

Byulyi grinned, reaching up to give Hyejin an approving pat on the butt as she stepped over Byulyi’s legs. An electric shock tingled at her fingers and then at her throat, and she hiccupped.

She opened her eyes again to cold porcelain under her, and a dim ceiling above her. 

She was in the bath. She dropped her head back against the rim, sighing.

Yongsun came into the bathroom to find her, after a minute. Byulyi saw the glow out of the corner of her eyes, and lifted her head.

“Oh, hello, hi,” Byulyi said, waving. In the other room, Hyejin and Wheein started to sing along to a Rihanna song, with a lot of giggling and fudging of lyrics.

Yongsun came to lean against the tiled wall next to the bath. All the shadows were sharper and in different places, now that she was here. She looked like an angel, immensely distant and beautiful.

“You didn’t hit your head on the bath, did you?” Yongsun asked. She sounded a little hushed, but entirely ordinary.

Byulyi shook her head. “And I haven’t ended up out in the rain, this storm!” She raised a fist in half-hearted celebration.

“Shush, don’t jinx it.” Yongsun settled more comfortably against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other.

“I was just thinking that you look like an angel,” Byulyi said, because sometimes she had no filter.

“Wha–” Yongsun spluttered. “You’ve seen me do the light thing a million times, Byul.”

Byulyi leaned sideways, dangling one arm over the rim of the bath. “It’s not just the light. You look …” She didn’t actually have an ending for that sentence, or not one that she knew how to say out loud.

Yongsun raised her arms to the side, flicking her fingers up and down like wings against the wall tiles.

Byulyi scrambled to stand up in the bath, raising one arm to cast shadows against the wall from Yongsun’s soft light. Yongsun laughed at her and Byulyi grinned, opening her mouth to speak. Then she felt electrical charge tickling her throat again, and she hiccupped.

Yongsun gave a muffled squeak as Byulyi stumbled against her, their mouths smashing awkwardly together. 

Byulyi pressed her palms to the tiled wall and pushed away. Her legs were unsteady and she staggered a bit.

Yongsun was making pitiful noises, laughing in a pained way as she cradled a hand to her mouth. “My _teeth_ , ow,” she said.

“Sorry, sorry,” Byulyi said. She was laughing too, but she was distracted.

That had been – not a real kiss, and also terrible. Byulyi’s top lip was tender and sore and her teeth felt jarred. 

But she couldn’t shake the sense memory of her arms caging Yongsun against the wall, as Byulyi pulled away. The image of how wide and dark Yongsun’s eyes had been, and how close. Byulyi’s heart was in her throat, for some reason.

“Byul-ah?” Yongsun asked.

“No,” Byulyi said. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Yongsun crinkled her nose, grinning at her, and Byulyi swallowed. 

She felt as though she’d somehow teleported out of her depth.


	3. Chapter 3

Yongsun had just closed the palanquin’s window against the dazzle of the sun as it began to set, when there was a shout from one of her bearers.

She reached to pull the window open again. Her knuckles banged against the lacquered wood as the palanquin pitched to the side. There were more shouts, and the clang and thud of weapons. The palanquin pitched again, dropping sharply at one end as though one of her bearers had staggered to his knees.

Yongsun grabbed the cushion under her, holding on with both hands as the palanquin rocked and jerked. Her heart was thudding.

Her gaze dropped to the small wooden box beside her. It had rolled a little away, but it was still sitting out in plain sight.

After a moment of hesitation, Yongsun grabbed it and tucked it into the narrow sleeve of her hanbok.

They were bandits, probably, after nothing more than her jewellery. And it was only an instinct that made her think the box was important at all. Her father had phrased the request to deliver it in an off-hand, casual way. But there had been something studied in the gesture that had caught Yongsun’s attention.

If the box _was_ important, though, he had sent it with her only because nobody would suspect she could be carrying whatever message it contained. The bandits were almost certainly not looking for it.

A moment later, the palanquin dropped and was hurriedly deposited on the ground. The sounds of struggle moved away to the left.

Yongsun listened for a second, to be sure she wasn’t going to step out onto somebody’s blade. Then she pushed open the door on the other side. She ducked through, straightening as quickly as she could and turning to see what was happening.

They were in a lightly wooded area – they had travelled only an hour or so from the capital. The sunset was orange through the trees, glinting off flashing weapons.

Only a very few weapons. Yongsun blinked, folding her fingers into the fabric of her hanbok as she took in the scene. Two of her bearers were down – she couldn’t see blood so she thought, hoped, they were only unconscious. The remaining two were struggling with a single figure. 

She couldn’t see any bandits on the ground. There was just the one man, who had taken out both of her reserve bearers at once, and was now effortlessly fighting the two who had been carrying the palanquin. 

He was far slighter than the two men he was fighting: a lithe form all in black, with a cloth mask across the bottom half of his face. He moved as though the fight were a dance, stepping and ducking beneath branches, the blade in his hand as natural as an extension of his own body.

Yongsun had known these two bearers since she was a little girl. Even if they hadn’t been protecting her, her heart would have been in her throat to see their lives in danger. But she caught herself, for a breathless moment, hoping that _he_ wouldn’t be hurt – this black-clad bandit who moved so beautifully. 

It was an unnecessary thought, as well as an unbecoming one. Her bearers were trained in arms, but they weren’t soldiers, and even two-against-one they were clearly outmatched. As Yongsun watched, the bandit spun his blade in one hand and neatly dispatched one man with a blow from the hilt to the back of his head. 

He moved too quickly for Yongsun to see what he did to the other, but a moment later the man slumped to his knees. From there he toppled onto his face.

The bandit bent over the man and pushed him onto his side, so that his mouth and nose weren’t pressed into the leaf mulch. Then he straightened. He pushed his blade into its hilt before he turned to Yongsun.

Yongsun could hear the sound of the bandit’s breaths in the sudden quiet – he was breathing just a little hard.

Yongsun wet her lips, swallowing. 

“The only jewellery I am wearing is the comb in my hair!” she managed to call, when her mouth was not quite so dry. “There are a few other trinkets in the palanquin, which you may take.”

The bandit stepped over the prone form of one of her men and began walking towards her. Yongsun lifted her chin, forcing herself to stand her ground. He had put his weapon away, so she would trust he didn’t mean harm to her person. And if he did, she had her own small knife in her other sleeve.

The bandit stopped barely a pace away. “You are very gracious, lady,” he said. He had a light tenor voice, with a hint of a laugh about it. His eyes were laughing too, above the concealing mask, and there was something – 

Yongsun must be imagining the odd ripple of recognition that passed through her. There was something in this bandit’s eyes that made her think of sunlit childhood days, and a friend – what had happened to her? The girl who had followed Yongsun about when they were children: a sturdy, protective presence even though she had been a year younger. Had her family moved away? Had there been some scandal involving her father and Yongsun’s?

The bandit’s eyes crinkled in a smile, above his mask.

“I didn’t think you would recognise me, but I see you do.”

Yongsun shook her head. “No. I am mistaken. The person I am thinking of is –”

The bandit reached up and tugged at the side of his mask, pulling it free of his face. 

The face beneath could have been that of a handsome boy, but Yongsun knew those features. She hadn’t thought about Byulyi in years, but she _knew_ , and she –

She had cried for weeks, after Byulyi and her family left so suddenly. How had Yongsun forgotten that? She had been inconsolable.

Abruptly, Byulyi stepped closer. Yongsun stared at her, wide-eyed, as Byulyi reached out a hand to tilt Yongsun’s chin up. She was only a little taller than Yongsun, even now, and their eyes were almost level. Byulyi’s eyes were dark pools. It felt as though she could make Yongsun melt, all of Yongsun's limbs warmer and more languid as Byulyi looked at her.

Byulyi let her hand fall to Yongsun’s wrist, lifting it between them as she met Yongsun's eyes. Yongsun was still shocked when Byulyi turned Yongsun’s hand over and pressed a kiss to the inside of Yongsun’s wrist. Yongsun felt the pulse there jump like a startled rabbit.

Then Byulyi was stepping back, and the little wooden box was in her hand.

Yongsun’s hand flew to her sleeve, her eyes wide as she felt its emptiness. She met Byulyi’s gaze again.

Byulyi’s smile looked regretful. “You should tell your father that he has lost this round.” 

Byulyi tossed the small box in her hand, beginning to turn away. Then she paused, and swivelled on her heel once more. “Don’t let him endanger you again,” she said. “He’s committed enough wrongs, without adding that one.”

She was gone before Yongsun had recovered enough to answer: a black-clad, fleet-footed runner vanishing into the forest as the last of the sunlight began to disappear.

Yongsun stumbled over to her men in a daze. She checked the pulse of each, and found them strong and steady. One was beginning to come around already, groaning and cradling his head. Yongsun brought him some water. Then she settled down against the side of the palanquin to wait for the others to recover.

She was barely conscious of the wait, or the chill. Her mind was racing. She had heard rumours about activities of her father’s that had made him unpopular, but nothing like this.

He wouldn’t tell her, if she asked – not who the message had been for, or what wrong it was that Byulyi and her family wanted to hold him accountable for.

Yongsun was going to have to discover the truth for herself.


	4. Chapter 4

Kim Yongsun wasn’t the best at captainly pep talks. She got flustered too easily, tripped up by the sound of her own voice. 

She held the attention of the entire girls’ tennis team all the same. 

Byulyi thought that had to do with the way the yellow floodlights over the courts burnished her hair like a halo as she talked. And the way her eyes sparkled and her nose crinkled whenever she broke into a self-conscious little huff of laughter in the middle of her speech.

“And that’s what I want us to remember when we play against the Pinks, tomorrow,” Yongsun said, reaching the end of her speech. “How hard we’ve practised, and how much we want to win. That’s what we should each take to tomorrow’s matches.” She smiled, flustered by her own sincerity. “All right, everyone pack up and go home! Get lots of sleep!”

Hyejin fell into step beside Byulyi as the group broke up. They started towards the shower block.

“You were staring again, unnie,” Hyejin commented. She sounded warm and knowing. Unnecessarily so.

Byulyi reached out and clapped a hand over Hyejin’s mouth, her other hand around the back of Hyejin’s head so she couldn’t get away. Hyejin laughed against Byulyi’s fingers. Byulyi dragged her closer, dropping her arm from Hyejin’s hair to rest on her shoulders.

“She was giving a speech, I was _supposed_ to be watching her,” Byulyi said, leaning in so their heads were touching. They were both sweaty from practice and it was a bit gross, but Hyejin only laughed again, shaking her head. 

Byulyi let her other hand fall from Hyejin’s mouth, swinging it by her side instead.

It wasn’t Byulyi’s fault that their team captain was the incarnation of a sun goddess. Byulyi was more to be pitied than blamed. Kim Yongsun should be aware of the effects of her smile, and –

Byulyi’s fingernails dug into the side of Hyejin's neck.

Hyejin gave a low squeak, looking up. “Wha– oh, hi, captain.”

Yongsun was screwing the cap of her water bottle back on as she jogged over to them. “Good work today, both of you,” she said.

Byulyi nodded, tongue-tied. 

Hyejin smiled in her gracious way. “You too, captain.”

“Wheein will definitely be there tomorrow, won’t she?” Yongsun asked, even though she’d already asked at the beginning of practice.

“She definitely will be, captain,” Hyejin promised. “It was only a dentist appointment she had today.”

Yongsun nodded. “Good, all right then.” She pushed a hand through her sweat-dampened hair. “We can’t face the Pinks without our best doubles pair.” She turned to include Byulyi, crinkling her nose in a self-conscious smile. “Or our service-ace prince, of course!”

Byulyi choked, breaking into a coughing fit. She had never heard Yongsun use that nickname of Byulyi’s – only their fan club used it, or Byulyi’s teammates when they were making fun of her. She hadn’t known Yongsun even _knew_ it. 

“Here,” she heard. She looked up, hand clapped over her mouth as she coughed. Yongsun’s eyes were concerned, and she was offering her water bottle.

“Th-thank you,” Byulyi said, hoarsely

Her fingers were shaking a little, and her mouth accidentally touched the lip of the bottle as she took a sip. It was as she was lowering the bottle, the water cool in her throat, that the thought crept into her mind: _That was an indirect kiss._

For a moment she stared down at the top of the water bottle, her legs feeling weak. Then her eyes flew up to meet Yongsun’s. Yongsun looked curious and a little startled.

Byulyi thrust the bottle back at her. 

“I’m sorry, I have to get home!” she blurted. “I just remembered!”

“Oh.” Yongsun sounded deflated.

“Right,” said Byulyi, turning and taking a step backwards. “Um, bye! Good work, captain!” She spun around and speed walked away.

“You haven’t even showered yet!” Hyejin called after her.

Byulyi ignored her, walking faster.

This was ridiculous. Indirect kisses _weren’t even a real thing_. Byulyi was too sensible for this. 

The wind was cool against her burning cheeks as she broke into a run.


	5. Chapter 5

Both Yongsun and Byulyi had missed dance practices because of drama filming, lately. During practice tonight, it had been really obvious that both Wheein and Hyejin had moves down that the two of them were bluffing their way through. 

They were staying back late, now, to try to make up the practice time.

Well, Byulyi was currently making up practice time. Yongsun was collapsed against the mirrors, catching her breath. 

Even Yongsun’s hair felt tired, and they hadn’t started the promotions for this comeback yet. Yongsun was excited about the song, and she wanted to hurry and show it to the world, but she also wanted to sleep for three days straight.

But filming would finish soon, and then it would be easier. She hoped.

She dropped her head back against the mirror, watching as Byulyi did another run-through.

Yongsun could see how tired Byulyi was, too. Some of her movements had a sloppiness that was never there when she was rested, even when she was learning new choreography. Damp tendrils of hair had escaped her hair tie to cling to her temples, and she didn’t seem to notice when her messy ponytail whipped against her cheek as she moved.

The effect was a little bit devastating. There was a blurred softness to all of Byulyi’s lines that made Yongsun think about touching her. There, along the vulnerable curve of her neck; down to the crook of her elbow, to her wrist.

Yongsun just – she wanted, sometimes. 

Byulyi flirted and didn’t mean anything by it, and it flustered but it was still easy, most of the time. That was what being friends with Byulyi was like; Byulyi had been like that even before they debuted and she began to use flirting as a way to fend off her stage shyness. It wasn’t as though Yongsun never joined in, either.

But sometimes it hit Yongsun like this, her throat dry with want and a hollow ache in her chest.

She closed her eyes. Most of the time she was better at not letting her thoughts run in this direction.

The song finished, lapsing into a moment of quiet before the loop started up again. Yongsun began to get up. She changed her mind and sank back again as Byulyi staggered over, dropping down next to Yongsun.

Yongsun handed her a water bottle. Byulyi uncapped it and poured part of the water over her head, then drank the rest. Drops of water caught and shivered in her eyelashes and dripped off her hair onto her neck as she tipped her head back.

She put the bottle down and let her head loll to the side, resting it on Yongsun’s shoulder.

“What if only the maknaes danced,” Byulyi mumbled. “It could be a thing. You and I sitting on bar stools, very … very elegantly. I’m in charge of image, so I should know, right? It would look great.”

Yongsun huffed a laugh. Byulyi turned her head, cheek sliding against the collar of Yongsun’s shirt, and looked up at her. She was grinning, tiredly. Her cheeks were flushed and her fringe was plastered to her forehead by the water she’d tipped over herself. Her eyes were soft and pleased.

Yongsun found herself lifting her hand to touch Byulyi’s face. She cupped Byulyi’s cheek in her palm, her thumb swiping over Byulyi’s lower lip. Her fingers were trembling.

Byulyi drew in a breath against Yongsun’s fingers. It was too sharp and shocked, and Yongsun hadn’t meant – she hadn’t thought she could give herself away so easily.

She dropped her hand.

Byulyi sat up, pushing her hair off her face as she looked at Yongsun.

“Sorry!” Yongsun said. She laughed, weakly. “Was that weird? I didn’t mean – I mean, that wasn’t supposed to -”

Byulyi wasn’t picking up Yongsun’s wild throw and laughing along. She was watching Yongsun with wide, startled dark eyes, as though she could see everything.

Yongsun stared back for a moment. Then she bit her lip, defeated.

“Byul, it’s okay,” she said. She reached for Byulyi’s hands; lifted and squeezed them. Took a breath. “It’s something I’m going to deal with myself. You and I are still the same.”

“G-god,” Byulyi whispered.

Byulyi turned her hands, threading her fingers through Yongsun’s. Then she went up onto her knees and leaned in towards Yongsun. One of her hands pulled free of Yongsun’s so that she could cradle the back of Yongsun’s head, protecting her from the mirror.

Byulyi paused for a heartbeat, her eyes seeking out Yongsun’s again. Yongsun couldn’t _breathe_. Then Byulyi pushed forward in a rush.

The kiss was soft, hesitant again at the last moment. It felt unreal – impossible even as it was happening.

Then Byulyi made a barely audible sound, her mouth shifting against Yongsun’s, and suddenly the weight of her body leaning into Yongsun’s was warm and undeniable.

“ _Oh_ ,” Yongsun breathed. She twisted her hands in the back of Byulyi’s shirt and kissed back, urgent.

When Byulyi broke the kiss, it was to drag in a ragged breath. She leaned their foreheads together.

“Sorry,” Byulyi panted. “I – from practice. I’m still – before, I didn’t have my breath back yet, I – god, really? Really, really?” She pulled back, searching Yongsun’s face.

Yongsun leaned back in, pressing their heads together again. Her hair fell forward, mingling with Byulyi’s, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“If you’re – if you want –” she said.

“I do,” Byulyi said quickly. Yongsun lifted her face, smiling too hard to repress.

Byulyi broke into a smile too, but fought it back, the laughter replaced with a clear, steady solemnity. “I always want to kiss you,” Byulyi said. "That's always true."

Yongsun went still. Then all her breath escaped her in a rush and she pushed at Byulyi’s shoulder, her fingers still wrapped in the fabric of Byulyi’s shirt as she shoved her away.

“Aish, how do you _say_ things like that,” Yongsun moaned.

Byulyi’s cheeks pushed high and chipmunk round as she grinned.


	6. BONUS

Hyejin had been in the quarantine bay for twenty hours, now. 

Wheein had been too busy to visit her since Hyejin’s shuttle got back. First the proximity warning system had been playing up and spooking everybody on the bridge into thinking they were about to hit asteroids that didn’t exist, and then one of the senior technicians had reported ‘a funny noise’ in the hyper-drive control room, which Wheein had had to spend several hours investigating before she could report that it was as real as the asteroids. This was the first chance she’d had to put down her tools and head over to the hospital quarters.

Hyejin was lying flat on her back on one of the beds in the quarantine bay. She’d been working on her mission report, by the looks of the workstation by the bed, but she was staring up at the ceiling now.

She looked up at the sound of Wheein buzzing to announce her arrival. She reached over lethargically to turn on the intercom.

“Hey!” Wheein said, rubbing together the fingers she’d jammed while she was working in the hyper-drive room. “How are you feeling?”

Hyejin sighed, heavily. “I was thinking about what would happen if I died,” she said. “What would you do, Wheein-ah? If I died before I could get out of quarantine?”

Wheein rolled her eyes. Hyejin was in quarantine because of a failure in her hazard mask filter, while she was downside on a planet that hadn’t been officially ruled free of atmospheric irregularities. _Unofficially_ this particular planet had been declared safe months ago, and the technicians actually stationed down there walked around without masks all the time. But standard policy dictated 24 hours quarantine for exposure to an un-categorised atmosphere.

“You’re not going to die,” Wheein said. “You know you weren’t even exposed to anything.”

Hyejin gave her a mournful, puppy-ish look through the glass. “Would you be very sad, though?” she asked. “If I died? Would you leave the ship and go and live on an agricultural planet somewhere?”

“Oh my god, this is so morbid,” Wheein said. “Why would you die? That’s ridiculous!”

“It’s not ridiculous to wonder,” Hyejin said, sitting up. “We’ve been best friends since we were children. We joined the space corps together. How would you go on if I wasn’t here? That’s not ridiculous to wonder, when I’m in quarantine and I might have something I could die of.”

“Oh my god,” Wheein said again. 

She looked around until she found the access panel. She punched it to let herself into the decontamination chamber, then through to the quarantine bay.

She marched up to the edge of the bed and leaned in to press her mouth to Hyejin's.

“If you died, I wouldn’t be able to go on,” Wheein said, pulling back from the kiss. She turned and hopped up onto the next bed along. “So now I have whatever imaginary fatal bug you have, all right?”

She crossed her legs, making herself comfortable, then snuck a glance across at Hyejin.

Hyejin’s smile was as bright and soft as Wheein ever remembered seeing it.

“All right, then,” Hyejin said.


End file.
